If anything I think the new merch is just another thing pointing to Banjo in Smash, if it's pointing to anything at all. I don't think a new Banjo-Kazooie game is ever going to happen, and I say that as someone who's primary interest going into every E3--since I first started watching them back when they aired on G4--has been the reveal of a proper BK3. It's time to just accept that it isn't happening.

That said...I love Nuts & Bolts, I love Yooka-Laylee, I love Sea of Thieves, and I'll love Banjo in Smash if that ends up happening. None of those things can ever replace the thing I want most, but I'm not going to let the absence of my most wanted thing subtract from my enjoyment of other awesome things that aren't my most wanted thing.

To recap:*Lots of Merch this year, F4F, Totaku, stubbins etc*The Exquisite Gaming post that started this whole thing*Stubbins heading to e3 with Banjo as their headliner*F4F invited to come to e3 with Rare.*Tinderbox posts an image of loads of gaming companies and gaming IPs, Banjo being the only one that isnt currently relevant.*Trusted leaker 'Shinobi' posts "hope Banjo is in for a Smashing Time"

You know, for the vast majority of my life I've wanted nothing more than Banjo-Threeie but now I think too much time has passed and I would agree with rare and Microsoft in saying that the title would have to have the characters full names. Because although there are thousands of us that are very aware of Banjo-Kazooie it has been 20 years since it was established. So it would essentially be like starting from scratch.

The only way Banjo-Threeie can ever get made is if Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie get the crash and spiro treatment with a brand new ground up remaster. THEN (providing the dialogue stays the same) they could follow that up with Banjo-Threeie.

Should the worst happen and Banjo-Kazooie as a franchise is indeed dead (we'll have to see if anything is done in the Nintendo Direct) at least we still have the OG creators in Playtonic and Yooka-Laylee will fill that void. I just started to watch the developer commentary videos on Y-L and they seem to have learned a lot from their mistakes from the first game, and inspired by other games like Mario Odyssey. I bet the eventual Tooka-Laylee will be a vast improvement on the first and Yooka-Laylee and the impossible Lair will open the Duo up to audiences who may have been on the fence for playing the original game.

Basically Banjo-Kazooie will live on through Yooka-Laylee if they don't make the comeback that we are hoping for.